For South Korean customers

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seth2915

Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
97
Well, folks, just an FYI.

I ordered one of those beautiful bonecutters to be sent to me in South Korea, but the South Korean Customs agents decided it could only be used as a weapon, especially when ordered by a person with such an extensive criminal record consisting of almost two speeding tickets.

Bear in mind, I got a USMC knife and one of the old Buck Strider folders here at roadside rest stops, where you can also get machetes, axes, mean-looking skin-diving knives and the like.

But a work of art from a master craftsman is just a little over-the-top for these Customs folks.

Long story short, if you are living in South Korea, don't try to order a Khukuri from HI unless you have it shipped to an address in the states. Otherwise, you will waste your time and money.
 
I see stupidity abounds the world over.....

I want to send my brother in Greece an M43 but I don't know if it'll have the same fate as yours or not.... He's asking an attorney there to find out.

I may have to get it shipped to me and then repackage it to Greece.
 
Considering Dear Leader Kim Jong Il's buildup, you would think so. But I have found an abounding "it's always been this way because it works, and it works because it's always been this way" sentiment over here. I wonder if Customs checks stuff shipped to APO addresses. Because apparently, having the thing is perfectly legal; it's jsut the importing that causes bureaucratic minds to swim.
 
What a pain. :(

Here's hoping Yangdu receives it!

I've known a few customers officers in my day, and some of 'em I wouldn't want judging the import of my favourite tools and collectibles.
 
C.S. Graves said:
What a pain. :(
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You have my sympathies as well; I'm glad Yangdu can help.:thumbup:

C.S. Graves said:
I've known a few customers officers in my day, and some of 'em I wouldn't want judging the import of my favourite tools and collectibles.
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Ditto ... but what 'annoys' me is if you get an officious Customs Officer who tries to get the item to fail; an example of that is trying to get flipper style folding knife in Australia without it being declared a prohibited gravity knife, it is necessary to get the sender to tighten the pivot pin as much as possible so it cant open without using two hands.:mad:
 
b.c.molin said:
... but what 'annoys' me is if you get an officious Customs Officer who tries to get the item to fail; an example of that is trying to get flipper style folding knife in Australia without it being declared a prohibited gravity knife, it is necessary to get the sender to tighten the pivot pin as much as possible so it cant open without using two hands.:mad:
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And lets not even think about poor Kazeryu's Napolean sword. :(
 
kimon said:
I see stupidity abounds the world over.....

I want to send my brother in Greece an M43 but I don't know if it'll have the same fate as yours or not.... He's asking an attorney there to find out.

I may have to get it shipped to me and then repackage it to Greece.
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Do you know if that generally works? I mean, does customs check gifts like they check packages from businesses?
 
kimon said:
I see stupidity abounds the world over.....

I want to send my brother in Greece an M43 but I don't know if it'll have the same fate as yours or not.... He's asking an attorney there to find out.

I may have to get it shipped to me and then repackage it to Greece.
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Hello! it's actually my first time i write something here.
Check it out about Greece but i don't think he will have a problem. i remember a guy from Greece here in the forum that have taken a khukri.
 
It really depends on the customs officer that happens to see your package,I have found that it is always better to repack and send from a private residence otherwise it's a crap shoot...and be creative with any description, camping equipment, woodworking tool, metal art, instead of kurkri or knife.
 
Actually yes, customs officers tend to not look at items coming from a private residence and going to a private residence marked as "gift". Using a creative description like Harpersgrace suggested also helps.
Though there are always exceptions.

I've sent electronics before that were gifts but had to ship them myself instead of the retailer so that I can remove the packaging and make them look "used".

Of course, if you know a customs agent, things are a lot easier....
 
Sorry to hear this, I will ship them to US address
 
Again, Ms. Martino, though I have told you by e-mail, you and HI have amazing customer service, second to none. Thanks so much for your amazing products and customer service. And rest assured, when I return to the states, I will order a few more of your products, in equal parts due to their quality and your customer service.
 
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I can understand, having lived for years in Seoul, Korea.

The only way to get such large bladed implements thru Customs, despite the availability of millions of other knives on the streets is either 1)have it delivered to an APO addresss 2)slip the customs agent a few 10 thousand won bills and hope for the best or 3) order 2 khuks, overlap the blades so thru an X-ray machine it looks like a curved piece of steel with 2 wooden handles, declare it as a "farming & carpentry tool" and hope for the best. The last option actually worked for me twice.

On behalf of all khuk loving Koreans, my sympathies.
 
tjchung said:
I can understand, having lived for years in Seoul, Korea.

The only way to get such large bladed implements thru Customs, despite the availability of millions of other knives on the streets is either 1)have it delivered to an APO addresss 2)slip the customs agent a few 10 thousand won bills and hope for the best or 3) order 2 khuks, overlap the blades so thru an X-ray machine it looks like a curved piece of steel with 2 wooden handles, declare it as a "farming & carpentry tool" and hope for the best. The last option actually worked for me twice.

On behalf of all khuk loving Koreans, my sympathies.
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Does the APO option really work? Because I have an APO address I could have it shipped to.
 
seth2915 said:
Well, folks, just an FYI.

I ordered one of those beautiful bonecutters to be sent to me in South Korea, but the South Korean Customs agents decided it could only be used as a weapon, especially when ordered by a person with such an extensive criminal record consisting of almost two speeding tickets.

Bear in mind, I got a USMC knife and one of the old Buck Strider folders here at roadside rest stops, where you can also get machetes, axes, mean-looking skin-diving knives and the like.

But a work of art from a master craftsman is just a little over-the-top for these Customs folks.

Long story short, if you are living in South Korea, don't try to order a Khukuri from HI unless you have it shipped to an address in the states. Otherwise, you will waste your time and money.
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Cant you get it delivered to you post office box on base? None of our stuff went through Korean customs when I was there. Everything was delivered straight to the base on military planes and taken right to the post office. Some mail came in from Narita, but it still went through American customs rules only.

Our military bases overseas are just like being on American soil. You are not subject to Japanese law while you are on the base. Now if a base commander wants to throw you to the lions he can turn you over, but I never saw it happen.

What kind os scales were on the knife? If it was a certain horn material I'm sure they wanted to grind it up for medacine..
 
tjchung said:
I can understand, having lived for years in Seoul, Korea.

The only way to get such large bladed implements thru Customs, despite the availability of millions of other knives on the streets is either 1)have it delivered to an APO addresss 2)slip the customs agent a few 10 thousand won bills and hope for the best or 3) order 2 khuks, overlap the blades so thru an X-ray machine it looks like a curved piece of steel with 2 wooden handles, declare it as a "farming & carpentry tool" and hope for the best. The last option actually worked for me twice.

On behalf of all khuk loving Koreans, my sympathies.
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So when you left South Korea, did you have any trouble getting them back into the States or out of South Korea?
 
IIRC, the post office of any US military base is the same as the land the US embassy sits on. In other words, it is sovereign US territory and thus is not subject to the "search and siezure" customs laws of the host country. But any mail that comes thru is subject to US Customs laws, so of course any illegal stuff that can't be sent thru US mail, such as drugs, dangerous chemicals, guns, tiger penis', etc would be subject to confiscation and possible punishment of the receipient. You'd have the MP's knocking at your door. But sending a khuk in a box to an APO address is like sending mail to any Post office in the US, no foreign customs agent can touch it since its perfectly legal in the US.

I've had auntie Yangdu send my first 2 khuks to my cousin's APO address at the Main Post in Yongsan, Seoul Korea. A 15" Villager BAs and a horn handled UBE. Both came thru in about a week, with no hassle what so ever. However, the person receiving the khuks for you should check with his individual unit's regs regarding receiving long, edged weapons in the mail, since I heard that many units, mostly non-combat have regulations forbidding their enlisted troops from having non-reg weapons on base. So from my experience, the perfect receipient would be a non-com who lives off base, or a civilian employee of the DOD who works for the base and has APO priveliges.

As for bringing my khuks out of Korea, well I never found out if there would be any problem because I had about a dozen buyers lined up with cash, begging me to sell them my khuks when they found out I was leaving.

If you absolutely must have a khuk while in Korea, I think the "Knife Gallery" in Insa-Dong has some Cold Steel and Khukri House khuks. Here's the link:

http://www.knifegallery.co.kr/index.html

Click the third listing above "Flashlights" to see the khuks they have, at vastly inflated prices. Bty, the red letters in parenthesis means "Out of Stock".
 
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